Eighteen years. That’s the most, as parents, we typically get with our children — to call them ours, to raise them, to hold them close. And it all goes by in a flash. But there are effortless ways to connect with your kids in that precious time. They’re simple moments, conversations, and activities that don’t…
My name is Kara. I am an INFJ. It’s taken over 2 decades to fully understand myself and I realized that in cracking the code of my personality, I had the key to understanding both my greatest parenting strengths and my utter weaknesses. I learned that knowing those strengths and weaknesses could help me to…
The day my oldest daughter was born, the weight of motherhood set in. I could feel the responsibility of life on my chest, the responsibility to raise her, and the responsibility to nurture her little soul. I suddenly had a future flashing before my eyes where I dreaded the day I would first lose her…
Potty training hacks are for everyone. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you believe in potty training or potty learning. If you are a follower of the 3 day potty training method, believe in starting them from birth or really young with elimination communication, or just wait and let them learn and choose to do…
I think it’s hard wired for kids to go through a bossy toddler phase. They have grown out of the baby days where everything is new and novel and have moved into the years of understanding their world to a degree of they know what they want and they want it now. Whether it’s how we…
This is a compensated shop from #CollectiveBias for Tom’s of Maine and their #NaturalGoodness Campaign. All opinions and ideas for ho to teach a toddler to brush their teeth are my own. Blood curdling screams, that’s how trying to get teeth brushed went for many nights. Some nights it still goes that way, but we…
This past week I started letting my toddler be a part of family decision making… and dare I say it, we also let her make parenting decisions. I began asking for her input in certain situations and the responses I have gotten have been insightful and enlightening. Not only does it show me that she…
My daughter has been actively working on using the bathroom by herself. We went on “panty palooza” this past week in order to make a special event out of going a week of seriously awesome progress using the toilet independently. So instead of just a few, mom-chosen pairs, she got a slew of panties she…
Parenting is a hard gig and one that is constantly posing new challenges. There are those days of frustration and feeling like a failure that somehow we allow to start defining who we are and who our children are without seeing the larger picture. In the trenches of parenthood it’s so easy to not be able to…
Summer means taking kids to the pool, the lake, the ocean, or wherever there is a bit of cool, refreshing water. This also means that many times, as parents we are worrying about protecting our children and going over toddler water safety rules with our littlest swimmers. Here is the complete guide to taking kids…
After losing our beloved pet Rowdy in the street right in front of our front door and then moving across country and into a very urban area, street safety has become paramount and an incredibly important part of educating our children. Teaching road safety to toddlers and preschoolers helps them learn to be more aware…
We live in a strange world where our children are immersed into everything technology driven. Phones, TVs, tablets, movies, games, books with sounds and moving parts, and even our billboards are digitized. So what does it mean for us as parents that are “digital immigrants” to raise “digital native” children? How do we embrace societal…